Finnish Subjects Research Articles

The association of body mass index with social and economic disadvantage in women and men.

Although an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and body mass index (BMI) is well documented, broad population studies focusing on the association between BMI and various forms of disadvantage such as unemployment, low income or social isolation are rare. A nationwide, representative sample of 25-64-year-old Finnish subjects (n = 6016) was classified according to their BMI into four groups: 'thin' (BMI < 20), 'normal' (BMI 20-24.9), 'overweight' (BMI 25-29.9) and 'obese' (BMI > or = 30). Multivariable analyses using logistic regression were conducted with this BMI-grouping as an independent variable to predict social and economic disadvantage, controlling simultaneously for age, educational attainment, region of residence, and limiting long-standing illness. In women, overweight was associated with current unemployment and obesity with long-term unemployment as well as absence of close friends outside the family circle. Both overweight and obesity were associated with low individual earnings. Obese women were also most likely to have low household disposable and individual incomes; a similar pattern was seen among thin women. A small subgroup of thin men were socially and economically disadvantaged with all our indicators whereas excess body weight was not problematic for men. Deviant body weight is associated with social and economic disadvantage in a gender-specific and partly curvilinear way. In particular, obese women face multiple social and economic disadvantage.

Empty Subjects in Finnish and Hebrew

Finnish and Hebrew (in most tenses) share an unusual mixed subject omission pattern: the subject NP is optional in the first and second person but is generally required in the third person. A unified analysis of the two languages is developed in this paper, using certain proposals of Minimalism and a licensing principle which requires that both the specifier and the head position of a projection must be filled. In addition to the null subject pattern, Finnish and Hebrew differ both from traditional pro-drop and from non- pro-drop languages in the patterning of the agreement paradigm; the analysis developed here provides a connection between the mixed null subject pattern and the special agreement paradigm.

Arg506Gln Factor V Mutation and Val34Leu Factor XIII Polymorphism in Finnish Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background: Earlier studies have indicated that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is associated with thromboembolic complications, whereas inherited disorders of coagulation occur less often than expected in IBD patients. The point mutation Arg506Gln of factor V (Factor V Leiden), resulting in resistance to activated protein C, is the commonest inherited form of thrombophilia. Alterations in circulating levels of factor XIII (FXIII) have been reported among IBD patients. We investigated whether Factor V Leiden or inherited Val34Leu polymorphism of FXIII would associate with IBD or its clinical outcome. Methods: Factor V Leiden mutation and FXIII Val34Leu polymorphism were assayed in 328 unrelated Finnish patients with UC and 235 patients with CD by solid-phase minisequencing techniques. The control groups comprised 142 apparently healthy Finnish subjects and 120 Finnish blood donors. Results: The frequency of Factor V Leiden mutation among IBD patients (4.5%) was not significantly different from that in subjects living in the same area (2.1%). No significant differences could be observed in the FXIII Val34Leu polymorphism allele frequencies between patients and controls. Clinical features of IBD, including the disease extent, requirement for immunosuppressive drugs, and occurrence of complications, seemed to be independent of these two clotting factor variants analyzed. Conclusions: Our data do not support an aetiologic or disease-modifying role for the factor V mutation or factor XIII Val34Leu polymorphism in IBD.

Body image perception in relation to recent weight changes and strategies for weight loss in a nationally representative sample in the European Union.

To assess body image perception and satisfaction with current body image across the EU and to explore the influence of sociodemographic variables, body-weight change and strategies for losing weight on body image perception. A cross-sectional study in which quota-controlled, nationally representative samples of approximately 1000 adults from each country completed a face-to-face interview-assisted questionnaire. The survey was conducted in the 15 member states of the EU between March and April 1997. The questionnaire was completed by 15,239 subjects (aged 15 years and upwards). Data were weighted by population size for each country and by sex, age and regional distribution within each member state. Just 39% of respondents in the EU were satisfied with their weight and these were more likely to be male (46%) rather than female (31%). Across the EU 29% of Finnish subjects were content with their weight compared with 47% in Belgium and 48% in Luxembourg. The highest percentage of subjects who were content with their body weight was among females who were underweight (58%) and males who were normal weight (66%). A further 20% of underweight females wished to be lighter compared to only 5% of males. Diet was the most frequently selected method for losing weight especially among females wishing to be considerably lighter (27%) while males were as likely to use exercise as diet as a strategy to lose weight. Geographical and sociodemographical influences on body image perception are evident across the EU. There were clear gender differences in the desire to be thinner with a high proportion of females who were underweight being content to be so.

Time-Resolved Fluoroimmunoassay for Plasma Enterolactone

We present a method for the determination of the lignan enterolactone in plasma (serum). This compound, produced by intestinal bacteria from matairesinol and secoisolariciresinol in fiber-rich food, is a biomarker related to the intake of a healthy diet. The method is based on time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay using a europium chelate as a label. After synthesis of 5′-O-carboxymethoxyenterolactone the compound is coupled to bovine serum albumin and then used as antigen in immunization of rabbits. The tracer with the europium chelate is synthesized using the same 5′-derivative of enterolactone. After enzymatic hydrolysis and ether extraction the immunoassay is carried out using the VICTOR 1420 multilabel counter (Wallac Oy, Turku, Finland). No antiserum cross-reactivity with available lignans, isoflavonoids, or flavonoids could be detected. The intraassay and interassay coefficients of variation at different concentrations vary 4.6–6.0 and 5.5–9.9, respectively. The working range of the assay is 1.5–540 nmol/liter. We measured enterolactone in serum/plasma of 224 Finnish subjects: 98.8% of the subjects had values <100 nmol/liter, 38.0% had 20–39.9 nmol/liter, and 34.4% had <20 nmol/liter.

Functional analysis of the C(-188)A polymorphism of the human leptin promoter.

Mutational analysis of the promoter region of the leptin gene in morbidly obese Finnish subjects had revealed a previously unidentified C(-188)A polymorphism in the proximal promoter that showed a weak association with elevated serum leptin levels in obese male carriers of the variant (-188A) allele. In this study we demonstrated that neither expression of reporter gene constructs driven by wild-type (-188C) or variant (-188A) proximal promoter regions, nor assay of binding of cellular proteins reveal a genotype-related difference in promoter activity.

Identification of new sequence variants in the leptin gene.

The leptin gene (LEP) has been linked to extreme obesity. However, no common obesity-related gene variants have been found to exist in the LEP. The present study was designed to investigate the LEP for variants by screening both the putative promoter and the coding region of this gene in obese Finnish subjects (n = 200; body mass index, > 27 kg/m2). PCR-amplified DNA samples were subjected to single strand conformation analysis. A G144A substitution in codon 48 and a G328A substitution in codon 110 were identified in two obese subjects, both of whom had very low serum leptin levels. A rare silent C538T polymorphism was detected 33 bp downstream of the translation stop codon (TGA). A common polymorphism A19G was identified in the untranslated exon 1. This polymorphism was not associated with traits of obesity; in agreement, the allele frequencies were similar between 64 normal weight and 141 obese Finns. In summary, this study failed to find a common gene variant in the LEP associated with obesity, but introduces 2 rare mutations associated with very low serum leptin concentrations in 2 obese subjects.

Identification of New Sequence Variants in the Leptin Gene

The leptin gene (LEP) has been linked to extreme obesity. However, no common obesity-related gene variants have been found to exist in the LEP. The present study was designed to investigate the LEP for variants by screening both the putative promoter and the coding region of this gene in obese Finnish subjects (n = 200; body mass index, >27 kg/m2). PCR-amplified DNA samples were subjected to single strand conformation analysis. A G144A substitution in codon 48 and a G328A substitution in codon 110 were identified in two obese subjects, both of whom had very low serum leptin levels. A rare silent C538T polymorphism was detected 33 bp downstream of the translation stop codon (TGA). A common polymorphism A19G was identified in the untranslated exon 1. This polymorphism was not associated with traits of obesity; in agreement, the allele frequencies were similar between 64 normal weight and 141 obese Finns. In summary, this study failed to find a common gene variant in the LEP associated with obesity, but introduces 2 rare mutations associated with very low serum leptin concentrations in 2 obese subjects.

Effects of experience with retroreflectors on recognition of nighttime pedestrians: comparison of driver performance in Finland and Michigan

This field study replicated a recent experiment by Luoma, Schumann and Traube [(1996) Effects of retroreflector positioning on nighttime recognition of pedestrians. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 28, 377-383.] on the effects of retroreflector positioning on nighttime recognition of pedestrians. The key difference between the two studies was that Finnish drivers who have substantial experience with different pedestrian retroreflectors were used in the present study, while Michigan drivers—whose experience with pedestrian retroreflectors is more limited—were used in the previous study. The subject’s task was to press a response button whenever he recognized a pedestrian on or alongside the road, while in a car, with low-beam lamps on, that was driven on a dark road. The results showed that the main effects were the same as found in the previous study. Specifically, the retroreflective markings attached to the limbs led to significantly longer recognition distances than when the retroreflective markings were attached to the torso, and a pedestrian was more recognizable while crossing the road than while approaching the subject vehicle. However, the differences between the recognition distances produced by the various retroreflector configurations were smaller in Finland than in Michigan, and the Finnish subjects more frequently responded incorrectly.

Glucokinase gene islet promoter region variant (G-->A) at nucleotide -30 is not associated with reduced insulin secretion in Finns.

To investigate the effect of the islet promoter region variant (G-->A) at nucleotide -30 of the glucokinase (GCK) gene on insulin levels in subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and NIDDM. The study population included 294 subjects with NGT, 83 subjects with IGT, and 36 subjects with NIDDM. Oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) were performed in all subjects, and intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTTs) were performed in subjects with NGT. The islet promoter region of the GCK gene was amplified with polymerase chain reaction and screened for the variant (-30) using single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis. The islet promoter variant (-30) of the GCK gene was found in 17% of subjects with NGT, 23% of subjects with IGT, and 14% of patients with NIDDM (NS between the groups). Fasting, 1-h, and 2-h insulin levels, measured by OGTT, did not differ between subjects with and without this variant in any of the three groups. Furthermore, first-phase insulin secretion, determined by an IVGTT in subjects with NGT, did not associate with presence of the islet promoter region variant (-30) of the GCK gene. These results indicate that the variant (-30) of the islet promoter region of the GCK gene does not have a significant effect on insulin secretion in Finnish subjects with NGT, IGT, or NIDDM.

Hong Kong male subfertility links to mercury in human hair and fish

The focus of the present study was on the relationship between Hong Kong male subfertility and fish consumption. Mercury concentrations found in the hair of 159 Hong Kong males aged 25–72 (mean age=37 years) was positively correlated with age and was significantly higher in Hong Kong subjects than in European and Finnish subjects (1.2 and 2.1 ppm, respectively). Mercury in the hair of 117 subfertile Hong Kong males (4.5 ppm, P<0.05) was significantly higher than mercury levels found in hair collected from 42 fertile Hong Kong males (3.9 ppm). Subfertile males had approx. 40% more mercury in their hair than fertile males of similar age. Although there were only 35 female subjects, they had significantly lower levels of hair mercury than males in similar age groups. Overall, males had mercury levels that were 60% higher than females. Hair samples collected from 16 vegetarians living in Hong Kong (vegans that had consumed no fish, shellfish or meat for at least the last 5 years) had very low levels of mercury. Their mean hair mercury concentration was only 0.38 ppm.

Variants of the fatty acid-binding protein 2 gene are not associated with coronary heart disease in nondiabetic subjects and in patients with NIDDM.

To investigate the association of variants of the fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) 2 gene with coronary heart disease (CHD) in nondiabetic subjects and in patients with NIDDM. Cross-sectional study included 135 nondiabetic and 79 NIDDM subjects with stenosis (> 50%) in at least two coronary arteries. A group of 81 healthy nondiabetic men without CHD served as a control population. All exons and intron-exon junctions of the FABP2 gene were amplified with the polymerase chain reaction, and variants were screened with the single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis. The allele frequency of an amino acid polymorphism (alanine-->threonine) in codon 54 of exon 2 of the FABP2 gene was 0.26 in nondiabetic subjects with CHD and 0.27 in NIDDM subjects with CHD. Other variants (GTA 118 GTC, GCGCA-->GCACA in the 3'-noncoding region, and the number of ATT repeats in intron 2) also did not associate with CHD. The variants of the FABP2 gene are not likely to contribute to the risk of CHD in Finnish nondiabetic and NIDDM subjects.

Hypertension, hyperinsulinaemia and obesity in middle-aged Finns with impaired glucose tolerance.

The aim of the study was to analyse the data obtained from a 2-year follow-up study of middle-aged Finnish subjects (n = 183) with a previous history of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in order to elucidate the longitudinal relationships between hypertension, fasting hyperinsulinaemia and obesity. Hypertension was defined as either a systolic blood pressure (BP) of > or =160 mm Hg or a diastolic BP of > or =95 mm Hg or being on anti-hypertensive medication regardless of the BP value. Multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for glucose tolerance status, serum lipids, exercise behaviour and alcohol consumption shows that the odds ratios of one unit (mU/l) increase in the baseline fasting insulin concentration were 1.13 (95% confidence interval 1.00-1.28) for the 2-year incidence of hypertension in subjects with IGT at baseline. Baseline body mass index (BMI) also predicted the 2-year incidence of hypertension, with an odds ratio of 1.20 (95% CI 1.02-1.42). BMI correlated positively with fasting insulin level (r = 0.54, P < 0.001). It is concluded that an elevated fasting insulin concentration as well as an increased BMI preceded the onset of hypertension in subjects with IGT. It may suggest a causal relationship between hypertension and hyperinsulinaemia.

Automatic auditory word perception as measured by 40 Hz EEG responses

Objectives: Here we report the existence of automatic speech perception in man, revealed by 40 Hz EEG responses. Methods: We presented to Finnish subjects the Finnish word /tu:li/ (wind) as the standard stimulus and another Finnish word /tuli/ (fire) as the deviant stimulus using a passive auditory oddball task. The experiment was also conducted with pseudowords as stimuli. Results: We observed a global significant increase in 40 Hz EEG power at 600 ms after stimulus onset for words, but not for pseudowords. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the memory representation of the standard verbal stimuli, even if unattended, might not merely be based on the physical features of the stimuli: if a semantic representation exists, then the brain processes it pre-attentively.

Detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis from saliva by PCR by using a simple sample-processing method.

Simple sample-processing methods for PCR detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis, a major pathogen causing adult periodontitis, from saliva were studied. The ability to detect P. gingivalis from 118 salivary samples by PCR after boiling and Chelex 100 processing was compared with bacterial culture. P. gingivalis was detected three times more often by PCR than by culture. Chelex 100 processing of saliva proved to be effective in preventing PCR inhibition and was applied to determine the occurrence of P. gingivalis in saliva samples from 263 Finnish subjects between 5 and 80 years of age. The occurrence of P. gingivalis increased with age, and it was detected by PCR in the saliva of 5.0% of subjects between 5 and 10 years of age, 13.8% of subjects between 11 and 20 years of age, 13.4% of subjects between 21 and 30 years of age, and 63.3% of subjects between 31 and 80 years of age. The results indicate that P. gingivalis is a rare finding in saliva from periodontally healthy children and young adults but a frequent one in saliva from adult periodontitis patients.

Variants in the Human Intestinal Fatty Acid Binding Protein 2 Gene in Obese Subjects

Fatty acid binding protein 2 gene (FABP2) has been proposed to be an important candidate gene for insulin resistance; therefore, it also could be a promising candidate gene for obesity. We screened the whole coding region of the FABP2 gene in 40 obese nondiabetic Finnish subjects. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of the codon 54 polymorphism of this gene (Ala-->Thr) on insulin levels and basal metabolic rate in 170 obese subjects. The frequencies of the variants found in exon 4 (GTA-->GTG) and 3'-noncoding region (GCGCA-->GCACA), as well as the allele frequencies for the variable lengths of the ATT repeat sequence in intron 2 did not differ between the obese subjects and nonobese controls. The frequency of threonine-encoding allele in codon 54 of the FABP2 gene did not differ between obese and control subjects (28 vs. 29%, respectively). In the obese group there were no differences in gender distribution, age, weight, body mass index, lean body mass, percentage of body fat, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio among the individuals homozygous for Ala54, heterozygous for Thr54, and homozygous for Thr54-encoding alleles. Similarly, fasting serum insulin, glucose, lipids and lipoprotein concentrations, basal metabolic rate (adjusted for lean body mass and age), respiratory quotient, and rates of glucose and lipid oxidation did not differ among the groups. We conclude that obesity is not associated with specific variants in the FABP2 gene. Furthermore, the codon 54 Ala to Thr polymorphism of this gene does not influence insulin levels or basal metabolic rate in obese Finns.

Trait anxiety, experience, and the public speaking state responses of Finnish university students

This study focuses on the public speaking state responses among 47 Finnish subjects. Cognitive, behavioral, and physiological components of stale‐responses were investigated in relation to speakers’ trait communication anxiety and amount of previous experience speaking in public. Trait communication anxiety was found to correlate significantly with the cognitive aspect of state response, whereas amount of previous experience was found to be reflected in subjects’ heart rates. Characteristics of the Finnish speech culture and educational system are discussed when interpreting the results.

Immunohistochemistry of HLA-H, the protein defective in patients with hereditary hemochromatosis, reveals unique pattern of expression in gastrointestinal tract

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is a common autosomal recessive disorder of iron metabolism that leads to excessive iron storage in the liver and other organs. Recently, between 83 and 100% of HH patients have been found to be homozygous for the same mutation in a novel major histocompatibility complex class I-like gene, called the HLA-H gene. The Cys-282 --> Tyr mutation in HH patients would be expected to disrupt the function of the HLA-H gene product by altering a critical disulfide bridge. As a first step in understanding the function of the HLA-H gene product, we generated an antibody to a C-terminal peptide and used it for immunolocalization of the HLA-H protein in the gastrointestinal tract of Finnish and American subjects presumed not to have HH. Although staining for the HLA-H protein was seen in some epithelial cells in every segment of the alimentary canal, its cellular and subcellular expression in the small intestine were quite distinct from those seen in other segments. In contrast to the stomach and colon, where staining was polarized and restricted to the basolateral surfaces, and in contrast to the epithelial cells of the esophagus and submucosal leukocytes, which showed nonpolarized staining around the entire plasma membrane, the staining in small intestine was mainly intracellular and perinuclear, limited to cells in deep crypts. Prior genetic evidence suggested that a defective HLA-H protein is the molecular basis of HH. Here we show that the HLA-H protein not only varies in its pattern of expression along the cranial/caudal axis of the gastrointestinal tract but that it has a unique subcellular localization in the crypts of the small intestine in proximity to the presumed sites of iron absorption.

Association of waist to hip ratio with diabetes among middle-aged subjects with impaired glucose tolerance

The association between the waist to hip ratio (WHR) and the occurrence of diabetes was assessed among 183 middle-aged Finnish subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) defined according to the 1985 WHO criteria. As estimated by multivariate logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio of diabetes at the high value of WHR was 8.0 (95% Cl: 2.2–29.4) times as great as that at the low value. The conclusion is that the middle-aged IGT subjects with a high WHR are more prone to diabetes than those with a low WHR.

Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses.

There is considerable debate about whether the early processing of sounds depends on whether they form part of speech. Proponents of such speech specificity postulate the existence of language-dependent memory traces, which are activated in the processing of speech but not when equally complex, acoustic non-speech stimuli are processed. Here we report the existence of these traces in the human brain. We presented to Finnish subjects the Finnish phoneme prototype /e/ as the frequent stimulus, and other Finnish phoneme prototypes or a non-prototype (the Estonian prototype /õ/) as the infrequent stimulus. We found that the brain's automatic change-detection response, reflected electrically as the mismatch negativity (MMN), was enhanced when the infrequent, deviant stimulus was a prototype (the Finnish /ö/) relative to when it was a non-prototype (the Estonian /õ/). These phonemic traces, revealed by MMN, are language-specific, as /õ/ caused enhancement of MMN in Estonians. Whole-head magnetic recordings located the source of this native-language, phoneme-related response enhancement, and thus the language-specific memory traces, in the auditory cortex of the left hemisphere.